The existence of an efficient human resources department is vital to the overall productivity and efficiency of the strong workforce in any thriving hotel. In most professional organizations, the role of the human resources department is not sidelined or eclipsed by other departments. In fact, good human resources can be one of the most valued and respected departments in an organization; their job is people, and as we all know; people are the company's most important asset.
Actually, each human resource department in a hospitality business is faced-up to a number of issues. As reported in the ‘’Tourism Training Initiative Newsletter, 1989’’ concerned with recruitment and retention problem in hotels and restaurants across London. Human resource leaders have to:
- Tackle the industry’s image; not that it has a bad one, but that it doesn’t have one,
- Emphasize the importance of personnel qualities,
- Distinguish between jobs and careers,
- Foster job satisfaction,
- Look for ways to attract young people into the permitted areas of the licensed sector.
Human resource departments in the hospitality business, started to realize that their success is dependent on their ability to attract, develop, and retain talented employees, because this will be a critical factor in developing a high-performance organization.
An important element of organizational success is the human resource management strategy. The human resource manager must be expected to set goals for the development and satisfaction of employees. Second, every employee is viewed as a valuable resource. The organization’s success is dependent upon high-performing employees, and without such employees there is no competitive advantage for the organization. Finally, through effective human resource programs the organization’s goals are successfully integrated with individual employee needs.
Human resources management needs to be closely integrated with managerial planning and decision making (i.e., international human resources, forecasting, planning, and mergers and acquisitions). Increasingly, an organization’s top management is aware that the time to consider organizational HRM strengths or limitations is when strategic organizational decisions are being formulated, not after critical policies have been decided. A closer integration between top management’s goals and HRM practices helps to elicit and reward the types of behavior necessary for achieving an organization’s strategy. For example, if a hotel is planning to become known for its high-quality services, HRM staff should design appraisal and reward systems that emphasize quality in order to support this competitive strategy.
Strategic management of human resources includes HRM planning. The HRM planning process involves forecasting HRM needs and developing programs to ensure that the right numbers and types of individuals are available at the right time and place. Such information enables an organization to plan its recruitment, selection, and training strategies.
Recruiting and staffing is a far more complex activity than in previous times when HRM staff could rely on recommendations from current employees or a “help wanted” sign in front of the hotel. The increased complexity of positions to be filled and equal employment opportunity (EEO), require more effective and sophisticated procedures to identify and select the right employees.
In modern hotel business, it is all about competence in people, and especially the employee’s qualities. The level of service quality depends on the qualities of employees. The qualities are about knowledge, skills and thoughts which lead to a hotel’s survival and development. Therefore, staff training is essential in many ways; it increases productivity while employees are armed with professional knowledge, experienced skills and valid thoughts; staff training also motivates and inspires workers by providing employees all needed information in work as well as help them to recognize how important their jobs are.
Many of today’s employees look at the chance to develop and move up as important in where they will seek employment. In order to facilitate employee progression, many organizations choose to spend substantial sums to train and develop their employees. Training and development (i.e., orientation, performance management skills training, and productivity enhancement) are planned learning experiences that teach employees how to perform their current and future jobs.
A human resource department can engage in resolving several issues within the hotel, through staff training programs, and be able therefore demonstrate its effectiveness to the owners, a human resource department can help to:
- Attain targets such as gross profit on food or liquor, turnover, net profit,
- Increase the level of service,
- Decrease the labor turnover,
- Decrease accident, breakage and wastage rates,
- Adapt and prepare staff to change.
Furthermore, through staff performance appraisal processes, the human resource department can play an important role in the overall hotel success.
Perhaps the most significant benefit of appraisal is that, in the rush and bustle of daily service, it offers a rare chance for a supervisor and subordinate to have "time out" for a one-on-one discussion of important work issues that might not otherwise be addressed.
Almost universally, where performance appraisal is conducted properly, both supervisors and subordinates have reported the experience as beneficial and positive.
Appraisal offers a valuable opportunity to focus on work activities and goals, to identify and correct existing problems, and to encourage better future performance. Thus the performance of the whole organization is enhanced.
Many human resource managers are designing career programs in an attempt to increase overall organizational performance and employee productivity, and to attract, develop, and retain the most qualified employees in this increasingly competitive and global environment.
In addition to being concerned about their own interests organizations are increasingly concerned about the long-term interests of their employees. However, with pressures to improve efficiency and overall effectiveness, organizations have also expected individuals to accept more responsibility for managing their own careers.
However, the human resource management department, to be effective, has to help keep costs down. Recent US research found that, world-class hotels are achieving results superior to their competitors, in both quality and the effectiveness of their operations, with lower levels of complexity and more streamlined processes that allow them to fill open positions faster, see lower voluntary termination rates and demonstrate greater alignment with their company’s business goals.
Effective human resource management requires some research, planning, and creativity. Using part-time employees, benefit planning, and internships can make a human resource department more effective. Internships are another way to accomplish specific association objectives inexpensively and effectively. Careful staffing, such as tapping the talent of retirement-age individuals for full-time employment, can have the added benefit of reducing insurance costs.
